


Treasure

by TheMomeRath



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Rei and nagisa are in there even if they aren't major characters, Selkies, merfolk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 03:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1842919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMomeRath/pseuds/TheMomeRath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto lives alone. On his cabin by the sea, he has frequent visitors- the neighborhood children come by and talk to him regularly- but his home is empty at night of all except for him. That in, until he finds a boy washed up on the shore on a bed of weeds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treasure

A grey sky hung heavy over the ocean’s waters as Makoto walked alone across the wet beach. The gentle waves of a post-storm wind lapped against the sand and washed across the footprints he left behind.

After every high tide, Makoto would walk the beach in search of little treasures- pieces of driftwood, perhaps, or sea glass that washed up onto the beach- that he could bring to the younger children who visited him in his home on the shore. Smiling faces peeked curiously at the tiny collections of beautiful things that he found, and the older boy happily distributed them to his adoring younger friends, who carried them home to show their parents with gleeful smiles.

Makoto relished the chance to take care of the children. Ever since his own siblings had moved on from his home, he found himself saddened by how empty it always felt to walk the seaside alone.

On one particular day while he continued his walk along the edge, the water slipping gently around his bare feet while he hung his sandals from two crooked fingers at his side, he spotted something lying across the wet sand. Raising his hand to his eyes, he peered forward and increased his pace as he neared the object in the sand, thinking it was a larger piece of driftwood or even something more rare and exciting to share with his tiny visitors.

As he neared the object, his eyes widened in shock and surprise as the features of a boy came into view. He was lying in an exhausted heap, tendrils of seaweed draping over his tiny, naked frame. Makoto knew immediately that something was wrong, and when he reached the boy, his suspicions were confirmed by the weak pulse he felt when he pressed his fingers to the boy’s wrist. Turning him over carefully, he leaned his head down to see if the boy was breathing, and when not a single breath escaped, he began to push on the boy’s chest, searching back in his memories to recall exactly how he had been taught to save a drowned child.

It was not long, though, before the boy sputtered and coughed, his rungs rattling with the water inside them, and Makoto breathed a heavy sigh of relief when blue eyes squinted open to look up into his face.

“You’re safe,” he told the boy as he lifted him carefully, discarding the few pieces of seaweed that hung across the boy’s legs. “Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

As he carried the boy back to his home, arms supporting his knees and shoulders, the young one’s blue eyes gazed out over the grey ocean, watching the clouded horizon intently.

~~~

When the children who normally came to visit Makoto appeared knocking at his door, they were disappointed to see that he hadn't brought back any treasures for them, but as soon as the dark-haired boy who he had found during his walk appeared behind them, they grew startled and immediately began to ask him questions of all kinds.

"What's your name?" asked a blonde, energetic boy as he squirmed excitedly.

"Haru," he responded simply. He sat on the couch across the room from the few children, a blanket over his shoulders and a cup of hot tea in his small hands.

"Why were you out in the ocean?" Another boy adjusted his red glasses and sniffed, staring down the new arrival.

"I like the water."

The questions continued on for quite some time.

"Where are your parents?"

"Where are you from?"

"Did you come from another country?"

"How old are you?"

He simply shrugged. Any of their questions after these first couple he dismissed with a similar gesture, and despite his unwillingness to answer them, the horde of excited children continued to pester both him and Makoto until the older teenager decided it was time to give Haru some to rest.

"Can I take a bath?" he asked once the exuberant blond boy had closed the door, waving a string of licorice over his head in farewell. Makoto nodded and led him upstairs, adjusting the water temperature while the boy tugged off the enormous t-shirt he had been wearing and dipped his toes in.

The boy seemed far more interested in just laying in the water, submerging his head every few minutes to look up through the glassy surface at Makoto’s concerned face.

Normally, Mako wouldn’t have stayed in to help anyone bathe, but he was concerned for this boy. Haru’s appearance earlier in the day had rattled him, and every second the boy spent underwater made him just a bit more worried that he would not come up to the surface.

As Makoto rinsed soapy bubbles from Haru’s back, the boy trailed his fingers through the bath water enchantedly. “Can I sleep in here?”

"You've already nearly drowned once today," Makoto replied, shaking his head. "I think that's a bad idea."

"I wasn't drowning,” Hau frowned, looking up to his brown-haired caretaker skeptically.

Mako sighed, and something in him realized that he wouldn’t get anywhere with plain reason. "Well, you still shouldn’t sleep in the bath. It’s not very safe.”

Haru frowned and slid back under the water, closing his eyes while Makoto looked on. As the ripples above where he had dipped under calmed, only the sound of the faucet dripping echoed in the near-silent room.

~~~

No one knew where Haru had come from. He appeared suddenly and even though nobody knew where he came from, they accepted him.

Parents of the children in the village whispered to each other that it was good for Makoto to have someone with him all the time. He was never one to enjoy being alone, and seeing the pair walking through the city with Makoto gently holding Haru’s hand, buying iced cream and running errands, was something that everyone agreed was a good change for the boy who had once lived alone in his seaside cabin.

The other children made their best effort to play with Haru, no matter how stone-faced he remained. It became their goal to make him smile, and even if they were rarely successful, it was something they all enjoyed doing. Makoto would watch them on the beach, and while Haru wasn’t nearly as active as all the others, he started to enjoy himself just a little, which always brought a smile to his guardian’s face.

There was one thing that stood out about Haru much more than his serious nature or his inclination to always go to the water. He seemed older than he was when Makoto had taken him in.

In fact, when others in the town started noticing it as well, they all agreed. Haru was growing up much faster than all the other children. “He must have hit his growth spurt early,” they reasoned as he shot up in height.

But as Haru continued to grow, rational explanations disappeared. Instead of looking like the tiny ten-year old he was when he appeared, it wasn’t ten months before he looked as though he was only a couple years younger than Makoto.

No matter how quickly he grew, though, Makoto continued to take care of him as though he was still the boy he had found helpless on the shore.

~~~

On one day, the pair walked along the beach, Haru watching the waves break against the rocks in the distance, and Makoto found himself smiling down at him.

“It’s beautiful today, isn’t it?” he said quietly, following Haru’s gaze over the waters. haru nodded silently. “It was a day like this when I found you, you know.”

The dark-haired boy looked from the ocean to Makoto, a surprised look coming onto his face. They rarely talked about that day.

“You were laying on the beach- it was just up ahead- and you had seaweed all over you,” Mako continued. “I saw you laying there, and you weren’t breathing, so I tried to rescue you. When you started breathing again, you were still sounding sick, but I knew you would survive.” He looked back down to his friend. “That was only a year ago, and look at you now.”

They stopped walking, and Haru closed his eyes before turning back to Makoto. “I never thanked you, did I?”

“Oh-!” Makoto’s eyes widened in surprise. “No, but that’s okay! I don’t mind-”

“Thank you.” Haru closed his eyes again and turned back toward the water. “I should have said it sooner. You’ve taken care of me better than anyone else could.”

Mako laughed quietly, and the familiar sound reached Haru’s ears and made him think about how many things he had been blessed with by living with this lonely teenager. “Why do you live alone?” Haru asked quietly, still watching the waves.

The quiet laughter faded. “My family was traveling together and never came back. I heard all sorts of rumours about what had happened, but-” he shook his head- “nothing was good.” He swallowed. “I decided I would wait for them in our house, and when people dropped by to visit, I realized how much I loved having them near. Having the children come by made me think of taking care of my brother and sister, and I never wanted to give that up, so I stayed.”

He paused, letting the silence fill with the sound of the wind and crashing water. “I’ve never really wanted to leave. I’d love to have my family back, but having all these people- you, the adults from the village, and the kids- having everyone in my life makes me think that I can deal with living alone as long as you all are here.”

Haru’s gaze flicked from the water to the man on his right. Even though Haru was slightly shorter, they looked almost the same age now. Looking up to see Makoto’s profile against the cloudy sky, he saw the other’s eyes glistening with tears. Without a word, he looked back toward the grey water. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Makoto said, a smile returning to his face. “I have you here. I’m not alone anymore.”

~~~

Along with the high tide that night, a loud and violent storm came in, rattling the foundations of Makoto’s house. Storms like this were not uncommon, and the house always made it through.

He thought it would this time as well, but hearing a sharp _crack!_  outside brought him to attention, and he stood immediately, concern flooding his features. “Haru! I need to check on the house!”

“I’ll come with,” Haru quickly replied, and both grabbed jackets from Makoto’s near-empty closet. The pair rushed outside, and Makoto found himself pummeled by gust after gust of rough wind and heavy rain.

“I have to go around the house,” Makoto shouted over the deafening roar of the storm. “I think the noise came from there.”

Haru only nodded, following closely behind.

It didn’t take long for Makoto to find the source of the loud sound. A tree had fallen behind the house, barely missing the side. Relieved to see the damage wasn’t large, he turned to look for Haru, but his companion had disappeared. “Haru!”

He found himself shouting around the house consistently, screaming the name of the boy he had taken care of in fear and terror. “Haru! HARU!”

~~~

The next afternoon, when the children came to visit, Haru was gone. Makoto shook his head when they asked where he was, and their shoulders drooped at the loss of Makoto’s friend, wherever he had gone.

Parents told Makoto they would keep an eye out just in case he showed up, and Makoto thanked them, but as the days passed, his hope that Haru would return shrank.

Two months after the storm, one of the children brought a jacket to Makoto’s house that he immediately recognized as the one Haru had been wearing that night. He asked where they had found it, but the sad news that it had been caught on the rocks a mile down the shore sank any last ounce of hope he had that his friend was safe.

He tried to continue to entertain the children, but they could all see how lost he seemed after the disappearance of his friend. He still combed the beach for treasures, but he found himself looking less for new things for the children and more for any sign of the boy who had appeared and disappeared so suddenly from his life.

The adults in the village knew something was wrong when Makoto’s smile faded, and they tried to cheer him with other news, but his kind response faded after a few seconds of feigned gratefulness at their attempt.

~~~

Makoto knew it was dangerous to go out before high tide. The ocean was deeper, and his normal walking routes would be flooded quickly, making it dangerous to go anywhere.

Despite the danger, he found himself drawn to the ocean. Something pulled him closer, whether it was curiosity or despair, he couldn’t tell, but he was brought closer until he couldn’t stand the waiting and dove in. Chased by the heavy pull of an undercurrent, he was swept further and further out to sea, where he knew it would be miraculous if he was found by anyone.

That was when he saw a familiar face.

Perhaps he was daydreaming, but the vision of Haru calmly swimming toward im brought him peace anyway. When the dark haired boy pulled him closer, his body relaxed and he knew that he had to trust whatever the spectre in front of him was doing.

When Haru’s icy lips pressed against his, he took a deep breath, inhaling a lungful of water. His eyes burned, and his vision faded, but in his vision or in reality- he couldn’t decide which- Haru held him close.

No matter how dark the ocean was, something told him the danger was over.

~~~

The children were the first ones to discover that Makoto was gone.

They came knocking at his door, smiling and happy as usual, prepared to tell him about what they had seen throughout the day- dolphins, diving playfully in the surf, and a whale, too- but no one came to answer them. Surprised, they opened the unlocked screen door and wandered into the house to see it exactly as Makoto had left it.

They sat on his couch and chairs, waiting impatiently for his return until the sun sank below the horizon and their parents came to the house concerned for their safety. Passing on the news that Makoto was missing, they sadly walked back to their own respective houses, pulled along by parents who felt like they knew exactly where Makoto had gone.

The children never did give up hope, however. Playing on the beach one day, one of the boys pointed out to the ocean and swore he could see Makoto waving at them from far out in the cove. A couple more children thought they also spotted the disturbance in the water, and they excitedly waved back at whatever it was.

When they told their parents the news, they smiled in return, then explained it was probably a fisherman who had waved to them. The children stubbornly refused to believe this, and so the adults gave up trying to convince them and told them that perhaps Makoto had found Haru and they they were traveling the ocean together, searching for new treasures to bring back.

This satisfied the boys and girls well enough. hey understood it might have been a fantasy, but it was far better than the shade of reality that the adults believed. Makoto and Haru were out there, somewhere.

What they never told their parents was that every couple weeks, they returned to Makoto’s house to find the table that he had once covered with pieces of wood and seaglass from his walks would somehow become filled again with new treasures.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> "All I need/Is the love you breathe/Put your lips on me/ And I can breathe/Underwater..."
> 
> Inspired partly by the first few paragraphs of a book I never actually finished and he lines of a song that people like to say they don't know. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


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